The 240 hectare Tokachi Millennium Forest is the brainchild of the entrepreneur Mitsushige Hayashi, who acquired the land with a view to offsetting the carbon footprint of his national newspaper business, Tokachi Mainichi. The masterplan, which I contributed to with the local Japanese landscape designer Fumiaki Takano, is marketed as having a sustainable vision of a thousand years, and this big thinking aims to not only to make the newspaper business carbon neutral, but also to preserve and prevent the further loss of natural habitats on the island to development. Hayashi believes that, in order for this vision to be viable, education is key. Helping it’s users to take ownership of the park is the best way to ensure it’s future.Continue reading Tokachi Millennium Forest | Shimizu Japan | Dan Pearson Studio